Adelaide United vs Western Sydney Wanderers
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Today’s (posted on Friday as the kick-off time is early on Saturday morning!) free tip is in the Australian A-League encounter between Adelaide United and Western Sydney Wanderers.
I remember watching the reversal of this fixture, and wondering how the hell Adelaide actually won it. They took their chances well in that game, admittedly, but Western Sydney wasted so many that it was unbelievable. Not exactly an unfamiliar story for today’s away team this season, is it?
As we enter this game, it’s now fair to say that Adelaide are the better team, playing more convincingly, and converting more opportunities – but certainly not playing perfectly. The Mariners did a seriously good job on them last time out, applying pressure from start to finish, and simply outlasting them. Western Sydney are capable of playing that way too, and truth be told, they must do that or they’ll lose as they’re not good enough defensively to contain The Reds. Furthermore, Adelaide are not Brisbane i.e. they will not waste the majority of their chances.
Adelaide have some issues to overcome though. Spanish defender Lopez is out again, and now key Danish centre-back Jakobsen is out too. Elsey does alright at the back when directed; without someone there to do that, Adelaide are in real trouble. The only positive is that young goalkeeper Gauci has done really well whilst Delianov has been injured, making some incredible saves. This isn’t a defence that can be trusted to keep opponents out though, and it would be foolhardy of them to believe that they could even begin to win physical contests with Ibini-Isei, Duke, Yeboah etc.
However, what Adelaide can do is hurt their opponents more at the other end. Mohamed Toure is still out but target man Juric is available, and Yengi has been brilliant whilst they’ve both been out anyway. Mauk has stepped up since Goodwin returned, as has Halloran, and that’s made Adelaide a lot more creative, varied, and clinical in front of goal. Factor in the engines they’ve got and the confidence they’re laden with, and you’ve got an Adelaide team in a good place right now, physically and mentally. I can’t back them to win here because of their defensive absentees but I do think that they’ll bag at least one or two goals today.
As per usual, Western Sydney can’t defend tactically. They annihilated Roar last time out – until they took the lead. After that, it was nervous sitting, misplaced passes, and panicking as Roar really set about them in the second-half. It ended 1-1, which was a fair reflection on the game, but they could have – and probably should have – lost it, based on the chances they gave away in the second-half. Luckily for Robinson and co., Roar do not convert chances with any regularity.
Western Sydney need to stay in games better though, and the return of Dorrans today should help them do that. The more of the ball they see, the more Dorrans and Baccus can thread passes in for fast forwards, and the more they’ll hurt their opponents. Not many in Australia can rival Western Sydney for speed, strength, and stamina, and against a makeshift Adelaide back four, that could be deadly. It’s imperative that they play with more intensity, though. If they don’t, they’ll simply lose this match without so much as a whimper.
I still favour Adelaide overall, for whoever wants to know. I think Goodwin lining up against no Russell and no Georgievski will give the hosts a real edge. The 1×2 market does nothing for me right now though. Instead, backing over 3 goals simply makes sense here, hence the pick.
Verdict: Over 3 goals at 93/100.
Saturday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
Australian A-League:
Newcastle Jets vs Melbourne Victory
Sydney FC vs Melbourne City
Adelaide United vs Western Sydney Wanderers
Austrian Bundesliga:
Hartberg vs Austria Vienna
SCR Altach vs St. Polten
Admira Wacker vs SV Ried
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Cercle Brugge vs OH Leuven
KV Mechelen vs Zulte-Waregem
AA Gent vs Sporting Charleroi
Bulgarian A PFG:
Ludogorets Razgrad vs Montana
CSKA Sofia vs Arda
Croatian Liga 1:
Gorica vs Varazdin
Sibenik vs Rijeka
Czechia Liga 1:
Baumit Jablonec vs Zlin
Karvina vs Viktoria Plzen
Marila Pribram vs Sigma Olomouc
Banik Ostrava vs Opava
Slovacko vs Slovan Liberec
English Premier League:
Manchester City vs Leeds United
Liverpool vs Aston Villa
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea
Estonian Meistriliiga:
Flora Paide vs Kuressaare
Finnish Suomen Cup:
KuPS vs FC Honka Espoo
HJK vs Inter Turku
French Ligue 1:
Racing Club Strasbourg vs Paris Saint-Germain
Montpellier HSC vs Olympique de Marseille
German Bundesliga:
Bayern Munich vs Union Berlin
Eintracht Frankfurt vs VfL Wolfsburg
Hertha Berlin vs Borussia Moenchengladbach
Werder Bremen vs RB Leipzig
VfB Stuttgart vs Bv09 Borussia Dortmund
German Bundesliga 2:
Paderborn 07 vs VfL Bochum
Erzgebirge Aue vs St. Pauli
Holstein Kiel vs Jahn Regensburg
Hungarian Liga 1:
MTK Budapest vs Budafoki MTE
Fehervar vs Ujpest
Ferencvaros vs Puskas FC
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Ironi Kiryat Shmona vs Hapoel Be’er Sheva
Hapoel Tel-Aviv vs Hapoel Haifa
Bnei Sakhnin vs Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv
Maccabi Netanya vs Beitar Jerusalem
Italian Serie A:
Spezia vs Crotone
Parma vs AC Milan
Udinese vs Torino
Italian Serie B:
Ascoli vs Monza
Brescia vs Pescara
Cremonese vs Pordenone
Virtus Entella vs Salernitana
Lecce vs SPAL
Frosinone vs Cittadella
Dutch Eredivisie:
Heracles Almelo vs Willem II
AZ Alkmaar vs Sparta Rotterdam
Fortuna Sittard vs FC Emmen
PEC Zwolle vs FC Twente Enschede
Portuguese Liga 1:
Maritimo Funchal vs Farense
Boavista vs Rio Av
Tondela vs FC Porto
Pacos de Ferreira vs SL Benfica
Portuguese Liga 2:
Academica de Coimbra vs FC Porto II
Cova de Piedade vs Varzim
Leixoes Matosinhos vs Penafiel
Romanian Liga 1:
Sepsi vs FCSB
Russian Premier League:
FK Khimki vs Tambov
FK Ufa vs Akhmat Grozny
FK Rostov vs Rubin Kazan
Spanish Primera Liga:
Getafe vs Cadiz
Athletic Club vs Deportivo Alaves
Eibar vs Levante
Real Madrid vs Barcelona
Swedish Allsvenskan:
Malmo FF vs Hammarby
Orebro vs IFK Goteborg
Swiss Super League:
Lugano vs Lausanne Sport
Luzern vs FC Basel
Swiss Challenge League:
Winterthur vs Wil
Neuchatel Xamax vs Aarau
Turkish Super Lig:
Hatayspor vs Goztepe
Rizespor vs Trabzonspor
Galatasaray vs Faith Karagumruk
Enjoy your free betting tips!